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When you think of San Diego, you think of gorgeous beaches, college coeds, Shamu, and Comic-Con. At Halloween, there are a handful of well-established haunted attractions across the city, but nothing much in the way of immersive, theatrical-style experiences as you find in Los Angeles and elsewhere. That’s about to change with Waking La Llorona, a multi-sensory, fully immersive theatrical presentation that happens to you – all around you – alone.

Waking La Llorona premiered this August in San Diego at a sold-out workshop production that was presented by The Old Globe through the generous support of The San Diego Foundation Creative Catalyst program – an organization that provides career opportunities for local professional artists so that the entire community benefits culturally through the arts. This production is set to run once more at the La Jolla Playhouse as part of their Without Walls Festival next month. The buzz that Waking La Llorona has already created has led to those performances at WOW already being sold-out. We have not personally experienced this production, but have been told by numerous friends and colleagues how absolutely fantastic Waking La Llorona is; and it should be. Several of the key people that have created Waking La Llorona were responsible for producing the cornerstone theatrical experience Sleep No More in New York City.

It’s been a really rough year for the team behind Rotten Apple 907, one of Southern California’s greatest home haunts. Located in Burbank, the team – led by Diane and Preston Meyer – has been a staple of the haunt community since 2003. Recently, the team encountered a nasty setback from Mother Nature in the form of a flood, which wiped out a lot of their materials where they were being stored on a property in Acton, California.

Props, walls, and other components necessary for their annual haunt were either destroyed, washed away, or covered with filthy debris and mud. To add insult to injury, while the Meyers were waiting for the water to recede enough to try and salvage their stuff, a bee colony moved in and made themselves a hive, which also had to be taken care of.

To say that 2017 has been a rough one for Rotten Apple 907 and its team is an understatement. These are good people who create a tremendous attraction – with a new theme – each and every year, with all of their proceeds going to local charities. Since 2003, Rotten Apple 907 has donated thousands of dollars to people in need. And, as luck would have it, now they are the ones in need.

As surprising as it is, when it comes to Halloween events and attractions in the Greater Los Angeles region, there aren’t that many offerings to be had. Fortunately for fans of all ages, Boney Island, which has become a Halloween staple here in Southern California, is set to return this year in a big way – a major expansion, which has just been announced by the home haunt’s owner and creator, Rick Polizzi.

For the first time ever, Boney Island is going to expand to the front yard of one of Rick’s neighbors, almost doubling the footprint of the beloved spectacle! It’s an undertaking of epic proportions, and a huge win for Halloween fans, as mounting costs and local municipality involvement in recent years have threatened to end this Southland tradition.

For fans of the macabre and bizarre, the announcement that Creep LA and the team behind Lore podcast have teamed up for an intense walk-through experience here in Los Angeles for Halloween 2017 is nothing short of really freaking rad and exciting!

Theme Park Adventure has long admired the work of Justin Fix and his team at Just Fix It Productions, whether it be their trademark Creep LA hauntings, or their more theatrical endeavors, such as The Willlows. What JFI brings to the community is always fresh, exciting, and unnerving – all without making guests feel as though they are being put in uncertain or precarious situations – and that is something that is very important to us as fans of this type of entertainment; we appreciate knowing that Justin and his crew understand where that line between safety and perceived danger lies, never taking us beyond it into iffy territory. Each of their past Creep productions have been stunning, and The Willows was simply remarkable this year.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The October 2017 encore performances of Slashed have been cancelled.

The extremely popular horror comedy musical SLASHED! is returning to Los Angeles for 8 blood-soaked performances this Halloween season at the Ruby Theatre at The Complex in Hollywood beginning October 5th!

SLASHED! The Musical premiered this summer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and received rave reviews all around, and accolades from various blogs, industry personalities, and fans for being a really fun romp, modeled after classic ’80s camp slasher horror films. Following its tremendous success at the Fringe Festival here in Southern California, the group performed highlights of their production at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, to the delight of fans.